Bacon, really?

August 30, 2013 By

Bacon, really?

Campfire Chicken with Pancetta

With all the love, drool, and googely gaga eyes over bacon, I decided to do a nutritional comparison of the crown jewel of pork and a few of its shimmering pork relatives – pancetta, prosciutto and well, the step-child, turkey bacon. No wait, please don’t stop at turkey bacon.

First, let me assure you that I kinda understand the appeal of the flavor of bacon. Kinda. For me, I’ve never been able to eat bacon very often. The fat is usually thick and concentrated and quite honestly, it upsets my stomach. However, I love the flavor and texture of more delicate crispy pancetta, and for sure the savory, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness of proscuitto.

In recent months – and for a couple of years, actually – I have encouraged substituting leaner turkey bacon for the real deal. However, since bacon lovers go wild for bacon nearly every day, and not so much for turkey bacon, I decided to dig a little into the nutritional properties of bacon’s cousins – pancetta and proscuitto – and throw in a comparison of turkey bacon, just for fun. Here are the results:

First, let’s begin with the definitions of each and then the nutrition breakdown:

Pancetta: an Italian version of bacon in which pork belly sides are seasoned with salt and pepper, curling it into a tight roll, and wrapping it in a casing. It is cured but not smoked. (Source for both bacon and pancetta – Jennifer Armentrout, http://www.finecooking.com/articles/pancetta-bacon.aspx ) As a side note, there really isn’t a deserving side note here, except that I love pancetta.

Proscuitto: an aged, dry-cured, spiced Italian ham that is usually sliced thin and served without cooking. (Source – http://www.thefreedictionary.com/prosciutto )A side note, it is usually from the leg or shoulder of a pig.

Turkey Bacon: Turkey bacon is an imitation bacon usually prepared from smoked, chopped and reformed turkey, commonly marketed as a low-fat alternative to bacon. (Source – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkey_bacon ) As a side note, uh, seriously, that definition does not sound appealing.

What does all of this mean? Before we get to the #SOBikini commentary, let’s begin with reading the labels. Reading and understanding labels has become as essential as breathing when it comes to our health. Knowing what is in the foods we eat is, quite frankly, our responsibility. We have to be our own police, our own health advocates and do the research on foods. No longer is it wise to soley trust upon the goodwill of the makers of foods to have our best interest at heart. Enter turkey bacon.

Turkey bacon in concept is a wise choice. It is the lowest in fat and saturated fat compared to other “bacons”. Turkey bacon is by far the lowest in calories. But at closer look, read the ingredients and how it’s made. Among the list of words are autolyzed this, smoke “flavor” that, artificial flavor, nitrates – you get the idea. Turkey bacon is anything but natural but the degree of natural or unnatural also depends on the brand; just as it does for bacon. As it turns out, some brands of bacon have additives, nitrates, which transform to nitrites, and so on. But, not all brands of bacon contain additives.

So, what ‘s the skinny or as we say in bikini-land, what’s the #SOBikini? Many brands of bacon, pancetta, and proscuitto are nitrate free but the majority of turkey bacon brands are not and as well, they can contain chemically synthesized foods and ingredients to both flavor and preserve the food. That’s number one. Number two is that because of the aforementioned scenarios in regards to turkey bacon, I must say, I cannot recommend turkey bacon as a suitable replacement for the real deal, bacon, eventhough it is lower in fat and calories. Remember my tweet, it’s not about counting calories, it’s about the TYPES of calories #WeightLoss and quite frankly, good #health.

When it comes to keeping bacon #SOBikini, I do recommend these options:
1) Trim the fat! Yes, haven’t you opened up a pack of bacon to see gobs of fat staring you in the face? It won’t kill you – in fact it could save your life – to trim some of the outer bacon fat off before cooking. Yes, I am serious.

3) Consider using proscuitto in place of bacon for any bacon-wrapped recipes. Envision tasty bits such as proscuitto wrapped dates or asparagus and just pass on the bacon wrapped hot dogs, please. Hot dogs are another blog post all together.

4) Purchase thinly sliced bacon. Or just repeat option 2.

5) If you must have bacon, repeat option one and cut your normal portion in half. You still get the great flavor but with less of the fat and calories – both heart and waistline killers.

And for all my bacon loving friends out there, you were right. A LITTLE bit of bacon is better than turkey bacon. BUT, do me and yourself a favor. Remember my other tweet, Portion control = weight control and in this case, it can mean heart health control, too.

See below for additional interesting reads on chemically synthesized ingredients:

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